Life’s trials evidenced in athletics

Once upon a time fans went to sporting events to escape life’s burdens for a few hours. More and more it seems life’s burdens show up at sporting events.

The Super Bowl is over, but the sad story of All-Pro center Barret Robbins of the Oakland Raiders is just unfolding. Robbins missed a team meeting on Friday and the walk-through on Saturday. The team told him not to bother coming to the game after he had disappeared for 24 hours in what his teammates reportedly thought was a drinking binge in Mexico.

ABC analyst John Madden said at the start of the second half Sunday that he saw in Tampa a team that came to win, but did not see that in Oakland. The Robbins matter may have been a primary reason the fire was not there for the Raiders.

Now we find that Robbins has a history of depression and had been acting peculiar during the week leading up to the game. Those who said they drank with him Friday night reported the more he drank, the more depressed he became about his life and the pressures he felt he was under.

His teammate, All-Pro guard Frank Middleton, refused to place the Raiders’ poor play at Robbins feet, but Middleton did say, “You can’t be on a team that doesn’t have trust in you, and I’ve lost trust in him.”

Think about how disruptive the matter had to be for Oakland. The biggest game of their lives and here’s a key player off on what his teammates thought was a drinking binge, which may prove to be even a more serious incident, less than 48 hours before the game. Life rears its ugly head.

Then there’s Pete Rose. MLB and a number of Rose’s former teammates have reached out to try and have him reinstated so he would be eligible for the Hall of Fame. No good deed goes unpunished.

He was banned from MLB for gambling on MLB. No sooner do the attempts to help him begin than the reports start flowing about how much he owes the IRS and how much he is still gambling in the most public of places, a Las Vegas casino. That’s how much the Hall of Fame means to Rose.

Life meets illusion.

After the awful end to last year’s MLB All-Star game, the decision has been made to add meaning to the game by having the winning league receive home-field advantage for the World Series.

Let’s see, Pedro Martinez is pitching in the All-Star game and the Yankees are leading the American League by 15 games at the break. Just how enthused is Martinez going to be to pitch his arm off so the Yankees can have home-field advantage?

Take this concept and apply it to any number of players and teams. The Dodgers and the Giants come to mind. If one has the chance to do the other a favor through a great All-Star performance, that is not a lock to happen.

Nobody’s going to throw a game, but there are plenty of All-Star situations where players will have no overwhelming desire to help out their biggest rival. Furthermore, if a team has a big lead in their league at the All-Star break, does that mean players from that team who are in the All-Star game should bear the primary burden on playing the most innings? They are the players with the most to gain.

Good ideas bump up against reality.

These two continue to look more and more alike: Sports and life, life and sports.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.